Cool weather might keep water from hitting flood stage
<p>Undersheriff Jordan White and Lincoln Chute of the Office of Emergency Services work to remove logs trapped at a bridge crossing the Whitefish River near River Road on Thursday afternoon in Evergreen.</p>
A couple of warm days and a few heavy rainstorms haven’t resulted in many changes to area river levels, Flathead County Office of Emergency Services Director Scott Sampey said Thursday.
But, that could change, he said.
Forecasts call for the main Flathead River and the Middle Fork at West Glacier to reach action stage today or Saturday.
The Flathead River as measured at Columbia Falls could hit or barely miss flood stage, he said. But, people who live in that area have told Sampey that the 14-foot flood stage level doesn’t always result in flooding.
“It’s more like 17 or 18 feet before we’ll see flooding there,” he said.
Cooler weather Sunday should allow those river levels to drop back down, he said.
With a weather forecast calling for high temperatures in the 70s and low 80s by the middle of next week, more flooding could occur, he said, as river levels come back up.
Conversely, the Stillwater River level has been progressively retreating every day this week, Sampey said.
More and more people are calling Sampey’s office about the increasing level of water in Echo Lake, too. “But there isn’t much we can do about that,” he said.
The big issue in Flathead County remains groundwater flooding, he said. Continued rainfall and melting snow in the mountains that still is able to soak into the ground contribute to groundwater problems, he said.
Emergency services employees were on Blacktail and Big Mountain on Thursday and reported 60 inches of water content still in the snowpack, compared to the normal 20 inches for this time of year, he said.
Depending on how that melts and runs off, flooding still could occur.
Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.